Virtual Pop Star Gets Her Own Cafe [Pics]

Tokyo City View in Rappongi, Tokyo has created a pop-up cafe called Miku Café in honor of Hatsune Miku, the singing, digital avatar of the vocal synthesizing application Vocaloid. Celebrating the character and the fan-created songs and videos that have made her famous, the café is a rare living testament to the star who has never even been alive.

Miku was created in 2006 by software company Crypton Future Media to personify the Vocaloid, a production tool that pieces together as many as twenty different voice tracks to create a single singing voice with a high production, studio sound.

Since her creation, the virtual idol has risen to heights of popularity that outshine most stars of the living variety. Her songs consistently top Japanese charts, her tours sell out crowds in Tokyo, Los Angeles, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore and her collaborations are as far reaching Domino’s Pizza and Marc Jacobs. Her crowd- and voice actor-sourced voice is featured in over 100,000 songs, many of which can be previewed on the YouTube Channel of Miku’s record label, KarenT.

The star’s first foray into the culinary world, Miku’s café features salads, soups, parfaits, and omeletes, as well as a rice and curry dish shaped in the form of Miku’s head. The beverage menu is a collection of teas, sodas and cocktails named after Miku’s fan-created songs.

The Miku Café doubles as an interactive media gallery, featuring an exhibition of famous Miku illustrations, a life-sized model of the star, a video and audio archive of Miku media and a message wall where customers can leave notes to the star and to the Hatsune Miku fan community.